Spontaneous Combustion: Myth or Fact?

Is spontaneous combustion a real phenomena? Since the early 1800’s, the idea of a human body randomly bursting into flames has been a topic of hot discussion amongst both the layman and the scientist.

After all, the human body is flammable, and we do contain an “electrical circuitry” of sorts, in the form of our nervous system; so the idea, as strange as it seems, is not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

That being said, the general consensus among the modern science community is sadly, a resounding “no”: spontaneous combustion is not a real phenomena.

Are you as disappointed as I am? Understandable. But lets take a deeper look into why spontaneous combustion is not possible, and why we’ll probably never get to experience or see the wonders of random immolation.

For starters, the human body is very, very wet. Though the numbers vary across the board (anywhere from 40 per cent to as much as 70 per cent), the average human is composed of a significant amount of water, making it very difficult for ignition to occur.

As for outside the body, that is an entirely different matter. Many of the cases of supposed SHC (spontaneous human combustion) involved elderly individuals drinking alcohol, smoking, and covered in clothing, clothing that is, of course, flammable. Not only that, the victims are often in the vicinity of some kind of flame, be it a lighter, cigarette or a nearby fire place.

The running theory is that the clothing of these unfortunate individuals absorbed the fats and oils naturally excreted by the skin, so much so, that the clothing acted like a wick. Because they were often times intoxicated, elderly, or both, they were unable to put the fire out (being unconscious or possibly physically incapable), and therefore burned to death as a result.

The argument against the theory is that the fires seemed oddly contained, as if they came from inside the body, burned the victim, and then went out. However, experts in fire safety agree that not all fires spread. Your favorite loveseat, for example, could catch fire one day and not spread across your home; it all depends on whether or not fuel is present long enough to maintain the flames, and also, whether or not the flames reach another fuel source.

And what about animals? Why have there never been any cases of animals spontaneously combusting? With billions of animals on the planet, at least one would have spontaneously combusted, and yet, the phenomena has never been recorded.

Okay, hold that thought for a second. No SINGLE LIVING individual animal, be it human or otherwise, has been seen to spontaneously combust. However, it is entirely possible that a large pile of decaying, rotting, dead animals could spontaneously combust, and according to the archaeological findings of those who study the hunting of bison by our ancestors thousands of years ago, this occurrence may have very well happened.

Approximately 3,000 years ago, a massive, single fire burnt most of what is called a bone bed (a collection of partially butchered carcasses of a particular animal, in this case, bison), after the considerable amount of rotting carcasses produced so much heat and gas that, acting like a pile of oily rags, lit up in flames, which one could refer to as a spontaneous combustion. No ignition source could be found, the flame was a one-time occurrence, it was sufficiently powerful enough to burn all carbon in the bones, and the fire was contained in a single place; Eerily similar to SHC, but still, this doesn’t explain the phenomena, as the aforementioned human victims were not rotting. Even if they were, it is highly unlikely that their bodies could produce enough gases and heat to reach the critical mass required to light up in flames.

So fear not, you wont be burning to death randomly anytime soon. As far as we can tell, anyways.